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Ex-IPS officer, accused in Assam police job scam, nabbed on Indo-Nepal border
The officer, PK Dutta, and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leader Diban Deka are suspected to have assured jobs to many candidates in lieu of cash
A retired Indian Police Service officer from Assam was detained on Tuesday a month after he was named as the prime accused in a job recruitment scam. P K Dutta was on the run since the Assam government cancelled a written exam to recruit police sub-inspectors after its question paper was leaked on social media last month.
“Dutta has been detained at Indo-Nepal international border on the strength of a lookout circular issued by criminal investigation department (CID) of Assam,” the Assam police said in the statement. “He has now been handed over to West Bengal police. Assam Police would take him in custody in due course and bring him to Assam.”
Dutta was detained from Kakarbhitta on the Nepalese side of the India-Nepal border while he was on his way to Assam by road. His son-in-law, a Nepali citizen, was accompanying him.
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An Assam police team was expected to seek Dutta’s transit remand to bring him to Assam.
An associate is believed to have helped Dutta and his son on September 23 to reach Siliguri in West Bengal, where they spent a night at a hotel. Dutta’s son-in-law is believed to have helped the two enter into Nepal the next day.
Dutta and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leader Diban Deka are suspected to have assured jobs to many candidates in lieu of cash. Deka is alleged to have procured the question paper ahead of the written test.
A police investigation has revealed that a day ahead of the test on September 20, many candidates had taken a mock exam in a Guwahati hotel. Nearly 70 of these candidates were staying at one of the five hotels Dutta owns in Guwahati.
Police had issued lookout circulars for both Dutta and Deka and alerted the income tax department, Enforcement Directorate and the department of revenue intelligence after unearthing many properties belonging to the police officer.
On September 30, Deka, who unsuccessfully contested as a BJP candidate in 2011, was arrested. He was later expelled from the party.
